That Old Michi is Back

Anheuser-Busch has reformulated and relaunched Michelob.

Since the late 1950's, even regular Michelob has been an adjunct beer, 80&#37; malt 20% rice (per Michael Jackson writing about 20 years ago). It was introduced as a premium, draught-only beer in 1896. From then until about 1958 it was all-malt. Then came the change (about the time it was put into bottles).

A/B has returned to an all-malt formulation for the regular Michelob, and even Michelob Light. (I am not sure about the others in the line like Ultra).

Also, A/B is bringing back the shaped "space age" bottle although it is an updated, slimmer-looking design.

About 10 years ago I wrote A/B and suggested they return to all-malt. I received a nice reply, telling me the rice they used was expensive (not a cheap adjunct) and contribubted to the crisp taste of the beer and no change was planned.

10 years later, with stagnant or falling sales of the traditional mass-market U.S. brands, A/B is doing something to upgrade the beer and return it to tradition.

I'd be interested in taste notes from people especially the homebrewers.

I always found Michelob had a characteristic taste that was rich and "eggy-like" and all-malt it is probably very good: Lew Bryson says so and I respect Lew's opinion (see www.lewbryson.com).

Sure, it won't be (as Lew said) a substitute for a highly individualistic craft beer but it sounds like it is very good on its own terms. I like fine craft beer with the rest of them but there is a place for a quality mass-produced product and it sounds like Old Michi, restored, may fit the bill.

Now, if A/B can just stay independent (recent news stories has it talking possible merger with InBev)!

Re: That Old Michi is Back

Gary go to BeerAdvocate.com and you will find out everything you need about AB and what "Beer Geeks" think of all their brews. That site has thousands of members and hundred's of reviews on most every beer. Their forum also has a wealth of info on all these AB topics.

Re: That Old Michi is Back

Hi Joe, thanks. I count myself as one of the geeks, having studied beer for some 30 years and avidly followed and encouraged the microbrew and import revolutions. I will take a look and factor in their views, but I'd be interested too in the views of people here who know beer, like Jeff Yeast and Jeff Renner. I have always had an admiration for the best commercial beers. I've had too many bad micro beers to doubt the validity of mass-market brewing at its best! Sure, there are lots of lousy mass-market beers: most of them are, in fact. But they don't have to be. In your own market, I like e.g. Ballantine XXX. It is better than 90% of the craft beers I sample from month to month.

Re: That Old Michi is Back

I remember Michelob back in the early 1970's. I always thought it tasted great, the aroma was a bit over-whelming, (in a good way) as I remember, but back then I was very price concious, so I stayed in the Budweiser price range. Back then they called them "super-premiums", and Michelob on drought was considered very special, with the taste to back it up.

Re: That Old Michi is Back

I remember the day when I wanted that "special" beer, I sprung for the Michelob. But, I haven't had it in years. I always liked the funky bottle back then. Being a big A/B fan, I look forward to trying the new Michelob again. Thanks for the update Gary.

Re: That Old Michi is Back

I like a dash of rice in my beer. I will be interested to see how discernible the new recipe is. I noticed a couple of days ago that the new advertising features the shaped bottles. Hopefully the Michelob comes out better than A/B Rolling Rock, which though supposedly Latrobe recipe is not good.

Re: That Old Michi is Back

Well, even the current Michelob is very good when very fresh. I brought some to the whiskey tasting at Bettye Jo's last year, packaged not more than 3 weeks before. They were gobbled up in short order.